Going Down Slow
by keijiei5592
Summary: For those who have been fighting for their lives every day, going down slow would be a huge disappointment. So they will do what it takes to survive, until they get to go out swinging. I suck at summaries. Rated T for language.
1. Out East

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. XD

**Author's note:** It's been a while since I wrote a fic so bear with me, okay? XP The story is set in the 3rd installment, Extinction, assuming that Alice wasn't tracked to the motel and that everybody survived the stint in Vegas.

So there, enjoy. (I hope.) :D

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><p>'Why does this keep happening?'<p>

That was the question that popped into Claire's head as she hacked at another one of the infected. These things are supposed to be mindless zombies, so why on earth do they always seem to know how to corner them? By them, Claire meant her and Alice.

The pair had found themselves trapped on the rooftop of a two-storey apartment building, located in the middle of one of many desolate cities, surrounded by what seemed to be no less than 500 flesh-eating monsters. Lucky for them, the doors and windows of the structure were securely barred by its previous inhabitants, making it rather difficult for anyone or anything, who can't pick a lock, to get in. Their only current concerns were those few that still had the right mind to try climbing up from the outside.

Despite their current predicament, Claire was somewhat glad that it was only the two of them stuck there. She didn't want anybody else to get hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt, a sneaky son of a bitch had managed to walk up right behind Claire, grab her by the neck and poise to bite down at the exposed flesh. The sudden attack earned a pained yelp from her. Claire let go of the machete she had in her right hand, in order to grab her assailant by the collar. In a split second, she took a stance that allowed her to heave the thing over her head and slam it on the concrete floor of the roof. She quickly aimed the shotgun she had in her left hand at the zombie's head and pulled the trigger.

The sound of rupturing flesh and shattering concrete made Alice look in Claire's direction. "You okay?" The question only made Claire smirk and say, "Of course." Alice had to smile at that. Too bad her smile was absolutely no indication that she was happy. Their situation looked pretty dire to her.

Just a few hours ago, she and Claire had been chatting about petty things when Carlos approached them at their spot by the campfire to report that Mikey had noticed something lurking in the dark near one of their perimeter cameras. Further inspection revealed a few of the infected deliberately headed towards the convoy. It was disconcerting news since they had carefully scouted the area and found no indication of the undead near the place. Still, they were fortunate to have discovered the throng of flesh-eaters early before their numbers grew. It gave them plenty of time to pack up and leave before their presence was noticed.

But fate was not on their side.

As soon as the vehicles revved up, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the air, followed by the sound of dozens of feet running towards them.

"Go, go, go!" Alice remembered Claire yelling as the horde came into full view. The transports sped away to the west leaving two trucks and four people. The remaining few were about to jump in their respective vehicles when Alice noticed something that sent a chill down here spine. "They're going to hit the convoy. " Both Claire and Carlos had looked towards the reason for Alice's statement and saw another group of zombies, much larger than the previous one, come running towards the transports from the north. "They must have heard the scream."

K-Mart's eyes had widened at the scene. "Oh my god, they're too many. Are the trucks going to survive that?" K-Mart had looked to Claire who was as distressed as she was. Before Claire could answer, the group of infected that was discovered first reminded the foursome of their existence through a chorus of that awful throaty sound they make. "Let's go!" Claire jumped into her Hummer and started the engine. But before K-Mart could join her, Claire stepped on the gas pedal and drove towards the larger mass of zombies.

"What the hell are you doing?" Claire could hear the worry in Carlos' voice over the radio. "My convoy is my responsibility, Carlos. You go follow the others." A beat later, and the passenger side's door opened and in came Alice. Alice had guessed what Claire planned to do the second she got in the Hummer and decided to hitch a ride, grabbing hold of the truck's grills. "Besides, I'm not alone." Claire raised an eyebrow at Alice. "What? I can't let you have all the fun."

Alice mentally laughed at the irony, after remembering her declaration. This was in no way, fun. The constant running for their lives, losing their friends, people they considered family, scavenging for food and other necessities, the killing, the fighting - it's become tiring actually, not just physically but mentally as well. But she couldn't rest, not yet. Not when she has already gone through so much.

With a pistol in each hand, Alice aimed and fired at the heads of every zombie that had made its way up the building, from left to right. Eleven shots later and both magazines were empty. To make things worse, she had no ammo left on her. "Shit." Alice hurled one pistol after the other towards a zombie, that had successfully stepped foot on the roof and started to rush towards her, effectively delaying its charge. She dashed towards it and then kicked at its midsection, returning it to the throng below. "Hey!" Claire pulled Alice's attention from the horde on the ground and tossed her a revolver. "Try not to lose that one, will you." They exchange smiles. "I'll do my best."

Despite her previous misgivings, Claire has been grateful to have Alice around. It wasn't just because Alice was a great fighter, but ever since Betty died, there wasn't really anyone else she could talk to. There was K-Mart, sure, but she always felt like she was talking to a little sister. There was Carlos, too, but he isn't a girl. And there are some things that a girl can only talk about with another girl. Like-

Claire wasn't able to finish that thought as she watched a huge chunk of metal fly over them only to land back to the ground below, barely missing the edge of the roof. "What the fuck?" Both Claire and Alice rushed towards the side of the structure where the thing started its journey. There they saw a huge brute making its way towards the building. It was slow, but if the UFO was any indication, that thing was strong. A helpless feeling washed over Claire for the second time since they left the camp site.

The first time Claire felt helpless that day was when Alice turned to ask her, "Do you have a plan?" They were still in the truck that time, still recklessly speeding towards the mass of zombies. Claire stole a glance at Alice while shrugging her shoulders, "You?" Alice raised her eyebrows at Claire, "Hey, this was your idea."

Claire heaved a heavy sigh. Yes, it was. She trained her eyes towards the horde. What they needed was a distraction. And what better way to do that than with explosives. "Grab the dynamite. I have a few in the back. If we can make it in between the horde and the convoy we can blow a ditch and hopefully force those sons of bitches to change direction." Alice started rummaging for the explosives, "Got it." Claire took a deep breath and pushed on the gas pedal as far as it could go.

When they caught up with the convoy, Alice opened her door and made her way to the truck's roof, "Just a little bit more!" With the transports at the left and the horde at the right, Claire swerved the truck slightly closer to the convoy. "Alice!" Carlos had caught up with the convoy and watched Alice ignite the dynamite. Alice spared him a smile and a glance, lifting the explosive in her hand in a gesture much like a toast. She then stood up from her perch on the truck's roof and flung the dynamite as far as she could towards one end of the mass of zombies. In no time at all, they heard an explosion, followed by another, and another, and another one. Alice had successfully created a groove almost as wide as the army of infected.

Just as planned, the pack had stopped dead in their tracks. But the problems don't stop there. The few zombies that had been following them since the camp site had surprisingly caught up with them and had their eyes set on Claire's truck, and now, so do the horde they had stopped.

"What is it? Your plan worked, let's go!" Carlos radioed Claire once again when he noticed that her truck had slowed down and was turning east. Alice had come back in the truck and readied her guns. "They saw us, Carlos." Claire said as she watched the infected follow them from her side mirror. "We're going to lead these things away, and hopefully meet back up with you guys." "I'm going with you." Claire shook her head, "No, you have to stay with the convoy. Keep them safe." Carlos sighed, "Alice, come on." "Claire's right, you have to stay there. Don't worry about us; we're a lot tougher than we look." There was silence on Carlos' side and then, "I guess we'll see you later." "Yeah," Claire proceeded to shifting gears and sped up once again.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the truck started slowing down. The gas tank was empty. On reflex, both Claire and Alice looked behind them to assess how far the zombies were. Too close. But they had no choice but to run. They grabbed what weapons they could carry and jumped out of the truck, and dashed towards the nearest structure they could find, which was the apartment building they were currently standing on.

Alice had cleaned out the barrel of the revolver Claire had given her, while Claire fired off the last of her shells. Both were sore and panting, and had now let go of their firearms. Alice unsheathed her twin swords and made her way to the middle of the roof. Claire followed suite, brandishing her machete. The girls caught each other's eyes and without words knew that they were thinking the exact same thing.

'Now what?'

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><p>So what do you think? Good enough to continue? R&amp;R please. :)<p> 


	2. Just A Dream

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. XD

**Author's note:** It's been a while since I wrote a fic so bear with me, okay? XP The story is set in the 3rd installment, Extinction, assuming that Alice wasn't tracked to the motel and that everybody survived the stint in Vegas.

Thanks to all those who bothered to R&R. I hope you do so again. XD

Oh, and single-quotes are thoughts, double-quotes are spoken. Just in case anyone gets confused. :P

This is an edited version of chapter 2. I just added a few things near the end. :)

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><p>'Now what?'<p>

Those two words echoed in her head. It was as if she were in a cave. But this wasn't a cave, she could tell as much after she opened her eyes.

There was a ceiling and a couple of pillars. Wires swayed and produced sparks each time they touched. There were light bulbs flickering above her. The walls were covered with peeling wallpaper. There were curtains partially covering shattered windows. And there was the sun peeking through broken glass.

It was then that she realized she was lying on the floor.

She was on her side, surrounded by chips of shattered wood and concrete. She tried to move but her body ached and her head throbbed making her see stars. She tried again but only succeeded in giving herself a migraine. It hurt so bad she could barely keep her eyes open. She clutched the back of her head only to find something warm and sticky. She looked at her hand and saw blood.

It was a few seconds later that she found herself slowly losing consciousness. She could hear blood rushing through veins, a chorus of low moans, and a voice.

The voice was so familiar she tried to hold on a while longer. She tried to make out what it was saying. It seemed like it was calling out. It was calling out a name. She realized that she knew that name as her eyelids became heavy. That was her name. She willed herself to stay awake but her body wouldn't comply. The voice got louder, so she tried to answer back but no sound came out. Darkness frayed at the edges of her vision as the silhouette of a person came running towards her. She tried to make out who it was but everything was hazy, then, everything went black. But still the voice was there, still calling out, calling out her name.

"Claire."

Blue eyes shot open.

Claire had been lying across the front of the Hummer before fighter's instincts had her sitting upright with a gun in hand, aiming at the open window where a frightened girl stepped back from the door with her hands up. "Claire, wait! Don't shoot. It's me, K-Mart."

Claire felt her entire body trembling, for what reason, she wasn't sure. It must have something to do with her dream. With a heavy sigh, she lowered her gun. "Sorry, K-Mart. What is it?"

"You asked me to tell you when the perimeter's set up."

"Oh, right." Claire could still hear blood rushing through her veins. She righted herself, sitting properly in the driver's seat. "Thanks."

K-Mart looked at Claire with concern. "Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream?"

Claire leaned back and closed her eyes. "You could say that."

When K-Mart didn't move from her spot, Claire looked at her and smiled. "I'm fine, K-Mart. You can go, and sorry about the–", Claire waved her gun.

"It's okay. At least, you didn't shoot me, right?" K-Mart gave Claire a sheepish smile, who answered back with a laugh, "Right."

Soon after, Claire was left alone with her thoughts. She tried her best to remember what it was she was dreaming about, but all she could make out were columns and flickering lights, and the pain.

A little while later, Claire had had enough of picking her own brain and decided to take a walk. She eased herself out of her truck, clutching the door as she felt a bout of vertigo coming on. "Damn it." She breathed in and out slowly and pretty soon her lightheadedness started to fade. But it was quickly replaced by an unsettling feeling that was promptly dismissed and blamed on her dream. Claire purposefully walked towards one of the campfires only to be greeted by a sense of déjà vu as she took in the scene before her.

She found Alice sitting by the campfire, staring intently at the dying flames. She couldn't help but think that this had happened before and it made her a little anxious. But Claire wasn't really one to believe in things like déjà vu, so she just toughened it out and hoped that this was just a coincidence. "You know, if you stare at it a while longer, you just might make the flames big again."

Claire's words stole Alice from her reverie. Alice was somewhat startled. Claire realized that she must have been in really deep thought. Alice blinked a few times, getting rid of any trace of fear? Or doubt? Claire couldn't put her finger on it, so instead she just finished her first statement, "but knowing you, that might not be too far off."

Alice laughed. It sounded forced. "True," then silence. "Can't sleep?"

Claire took a seat beside Alice, "Yeah, you?"

"Yeah, me neither."

"Hey Claire", the latter turned to the source of the voice. "Thanks for not running me out of here."

It was now Claire's turn to laugh. Alice stared at her, surprised. "What? What did I say?"

"Sorry, it's just that you, of all people, can obviously force me to let you stay here, you know."

Alice looked pensive. "I know. But staying here and being wanted to stay here are two very different things. I mean, after the motel and Vegas, I figured…" a shrug.

"You're right, sorry." A sigh, "You're welcome." The two smiled at each other.

The night was so peaceful, that the girls soon found themselves talking about random stuff like clothes ("I think I've had on the same outfit since this all started."), food ("I don't really talk about it, but sometimes I crave cake, like I imagine cake dancing in front of my eyes. Creepy, I know."), and boys ("Who? Carlos? Yeah, right." "Oh, come on. It's not like there are a lot of them left to choose from."). The light-hearted chatting had Claire ignoring that bad feeling nagging her ever since Alice thanked her about staying with the convoy.

That was until Carlos approached the campfire to tell them about what Mikey saw on the monitors.

Claire could hear Carlos' words in her head even before he said them. It made her nauseous. As Alice stood up to go see the feed for herself, she noticed Claire go pale. "Claire, are you okay?"

"We have to pack up, now."

"What are you talking about?" Carlos looked confused.

Claire stood up and put out the campfire. Visions of hundreds of the infected running towards them, Alice on the Hummer's roof throwing dynamite, and both her and Alice standing on an apartment building roof with no ammo flooded Claire's head. It shook her to the core. "I'll explain later, just get everyone into their vehicles as soon as possible. We have to leave before they get any closer."

Alice became as confused as Carlos, "Before who gets any closer?"

The question was answered by hair-raising screams followed by the thunderous sound of hundreds of feet running.

"No, it's too soon." Alice and Carlos couldn't help but to look incredulously at Claire. "Let's go! Tell everyone to head south when they're ready to leave."

The three dashed to different directions, putting out campfires and helping the others get their things and themselves into the trucks. One after the other, the vehicles sped away from the site, heading south, as Claire had instructed. Claire's truck was the last to leave.

Claire was deep in thought as she drove, trying to remember any other important detail from her visions that might help them. She didn't want to rely on visions, but she didn't really have anything else to work with. The situations aren't identical, but they were close enough. Claire then remembered the dynamite.

Claire looked over to the girl riding with her. "K-Mart, there's dynamite in the back. Light some up and throw it behind us." K-Mart's eyes widened. "You want **me** to do **what**?" "Well, yeah, unless you want to drive." K-Mart paused for a second, and then rummaged through the things in the backseat and found the dynamite. Claire tossed her a lighter. But before K-Mart could light any of the explosives, something happened that never did in Claire's vision.

The earth shook violently. In the middle of being hunted down by a huge pack of flesh-eating monsters, Claire's convoy experienced an earthquake so strong that it managed to tear the ground apart. Little by little, land opened up to reveal a dark void that almost seemed to swallow you just from looking at it.

And it did just that to the vehicles ahead of Claire's.

One by one, the trucks fell into what looked like a bottomless pit. Claire watched helplessly as she heard K-Mart screaming. Their truck soon followed suite and they plunged into the darkness.

At that time, Claire submitted to the inevitable, closing her eyes. Of all the things she could die from, she never imagined it to be anywhere near what was currently happening. She always thought she would go out swinging, guns a blazing, and guts splattering. But this: this was going down slow, literally. Claire felt her body falling and her consciousness fading.

It wasn't long until Claire got stirred awake by sudden movement. It was clearly unexpected, judging by the fact that just minutes ago she fell into a pit, while in her truck, in the middle of a desert. She didn't seem to have the strength to open her eyes though, so she just paid attention to what her other senses offered. She could hear quick footstep while swaying slowly, left and right. She guessed that she was being carried fireman-style, since her midsection was a bit sore. Then there was the cocking of a gun and bullets went flying. Her carrier picked up pace and soon, she was set down on something that felt cold, like…

'Tiles?'

Claire could still hear gunshots and her company had walked away from her. And then she noticed that something smelled like it was burning. It was getting closer and closer. She could hear a voice, that voice from her dream, calling her.

"Claire!"

Finally, blue eyes shot open.

The first thing they saw was a handgun near her head. She grabbed it, rolled on her back and then aimed at the burning zombie that was lurking behind her. Because of panic, pain, and confusion, Claire emptied the magazine into the cannibal's head.

Claire's breathing was labored. She struggled to sit up. She could feel blood flow from her head, down her back. She looked around and saw that she seemed to be in some kind of storage room with a huge hole in one of the walls. Through the hole, she saw fire. And then there was Alice by the door, handling an M16.

When things seemed to settle down, Alice shut the heavy metal door and walked towards Claire. She noticed Claire eyeing the rifle. "I'll explain later. First we need to patch you up."

Claire was still a bit groggy, but managed to form one coherent question:

"What the hell happened?"

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><p>R&amp;R please. :)<p> 


	3. Stay Alive

****Disclaimer:**** I don't own anything. XD

**Author's note:** First of all, I would like to apologize for the awfully late update. I spent most my time catching up on missed episodes and movies that I totally neglected to finish this. So to all who have been patiently waiting for this chapter, thank you so much.

Because of the late update, I decided to fit two chapters into one, and so this chapter is longer than the previous ones. I sincerely hope this will keep you guys entertained until I finish chapter 4.

Oh, and last but not least, read and review please. :)

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><p>CHAPTER 3: Stay Alive<p>

'What the hell happened?'

Those four words seemed to echo in the room. The room used to be a bank vault, but the contents of this vault have now been used to form a wall of flames around the immediate vicinity of the bank. The bank could be located on the second floor of the now desolate town's center for shopping and entertainment, the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is a five-storey building that stands proudly in the middle of town with its glass outer wall and thick aluminum frame. It houses state-of-the-art security equipment and facilities. Its tenants sold the latest in gadgets and fashion. It was one of the town's greatest attractions. Not that it really matters now.

The townspeople, who were once patrons of this once magnificent structure, have no more interest in the wonders it offered. They are now more concerned in what it was hiding. There in the heart of the Plaza Mayor, were two people, just the things that the townspeople could feast on.

Alice and Claire are still trapped amid hundreds of flesh-eating abominations. Though they now have a change of scenery, it won't help them get back to the convoy.

Alice had made a habit of looking over to Claire to check if she was still breathing. The latter lay on her side, looking away from Alice. Claire promptly lost consciousness not long after she made her query.

While Claire was unconscious, Alice treated her wounds and took special care to treat the one in the back of Claire's head. It was bleeding real badly before but now it stopped, affording Alice some time to herself which she used to think back and figure out if maybe they came across something they could use.

Alice thought back to about half a day earlier, back when she and Claire were still on the apartment building. No ammo, and pretty close to having no hope. They somewhat had an air of finality around them. The sun had begun to set and the air was getting cold. The infected had stopped climbing up and everything got quiet, and so the two had sat back to back in the middle of the roof.

"Did you ever imagine dying like this?" Claire waved her machete in a gesture that meant she was referring to their situation. "Like what? Starving to death?" Alice humored Claire if only to keep their spirits up. Claire laughed at that, "I think we'd die of boredom way before hunger hits us." Alice had to agree with that. Claire continued, "What I meant was dying in a zombie apocalypse." Alice smiled, "No. I always thought I'd get shot 'cause of my job. I was in security." Claire got silent and then, "Do you think this'll all end? I mean, will we ever go back to the way things were? Well, not exactly the same. Things will never be the same. But at least go back to some sort of normalcy."

That got Alice thinking. It was a while before Alice answered, "I don't know. I hope so. " Alice slowly stood up and turned to Claire, offering her hand. "But what I know for sure is that you are going to stop talking about dying because we are staying alive. And maybe we can find a way to create a world like the one we lost." Claire took Alice's hand and stood beside her. "And if we don't make it, at least we tried."

Claire nodded. "Well, anything beats going down slow and quietly."

While Claire and Alice tried thinking of a plan to improve their current situation, the huge brute that had been slowly making its way towards the building slammed its colossal body into the structure making it shake violently. The tremor cracked concrete, separating Alice and Claire. Both tried to find something steady to hold on to. Claire, who found herself near the edge of the roof, lost her footing. Good thing Alice got a hold of her before she leant too far back and fell off.

"We have to go down." Alice told Claire, and they ran to the stairs. When they reached the landing, Claire had an idea. "Let's search the rooms. We might find something we could use. Let's split up and meet back here."

They moved fast. They knew that the two-storey building probably wouldn't hold up that long against the strength of a genetically engineered monstrosity almost one-third its height.

It was a few minutes later, Claire got back to the meeting spot carrying a bag. She was able to gather a few things, most of which were flammable, a shotgun and a few shells. She looked around, waiting for any sign that Alice was coming. The tremors were getting stronger. The ceiling was breaking apart. Claire looked out one of the windows and cursed, "Shit. There are three of them."

There were three of the huge brutes each were at one side of the building, hitting the walls with their fists that seemed to be the size of basketballs. The infected were yelling as if they were cheering on the giants. They were so loud Claire almost didn't hear Alice calling her. "Claire! I'm over at 205. You've got to see this!"

Claire tore her eyes from the scene below and kept close to the walls as she made her way to where Alice was. And what Alice had found was a piece that had Claire whistling when she set eyes on it. "Now that is vintage Harley-Davidson."

"Can you fix it?" Alice pointed towards motorcycle parts strewn all over the floor. "Its previous owner didn't finish." Claire kneeled by the side of the bike, examining it. "Maybe. I've never worked on something like this but I can try." Alice then grabbed Claire's bag and a few other flammable and/or explosive things she could find. "That's good enough for me. I'll make us a way out."

Like clockwork, the building trembled again, shattering windows and light bulbs, and toppled over shelves and wardrobes. Both Alice and Claire found it difficult to work with all the movement so it took some time. Alice was on the first floor, placing her makeshift bombs as near as she could, without being noticed, to each of the huge brutes. Not long after Alice was finished, Claire tested the motorcycle and Alice helped maneuvering it down the stairs.

Once preparations were finished, Alice counted down backwards, "3… 2… 1…" She then looked over to Claire, who lit up twine that split into three parts and each part went into one of the first floor rooms.

From the outside, the building was quiet and you'd be wondering what it was these zombies were so intent in getting. That is until a huge explosion sent one of the huge brutes toppling backwards. The explosion caught the attention of most of the infected and they started running towards the source. Unfortunately for them, just to the right, another bomb went off. The second explosion not only hit another huge brute, but also sent thick debris flying and squashing a lot of the cannibals. A few seconds later, a third explosion was heard. By now, all of the huge brutes were lying on the ground and almost all of the zombies have moved towards the gaping hole on one side of the building. As soon as the infected started filing in the building through the hole the explosions created, a motor was heard followed by the smell of burning rubber.

The infected noticed the motorcycle but it was too late because Alice, who was already on the bike, released the breaks and sped right through one of the windows opposite the hole. And as soon as the motorcycle cleared the building, Claire, who was riding behind Alice, threw a pack of lit matches back through the window. As soon as the matches hit the ground, the flames lit up the gas that filled the room. Someone (coughClairecough) left a gas tank leaking. And when the entire first floor was engulfed in flames, there was one last explosion that sent the entire apartment building crumbling to the ground.

Alice didn't bother to look back at their handiwork; instead she forged on away from what zombies were left from the explosions. Claire shot those that were gaining on them. But when she shot one at her left, she didn't just hit the zombie but also a huge brute sitting in the shadows between two small shops. It seemed to have been sleeping before the force of Claire's shot threw back a zombie right into it. "Alice!" Claire shouted over the din of the bike. Alice looked back to see the brute move out of its hiding place and positioned itself right behind them. Alice went back to looking straight ahead and sped up even faster, while Claire started shooting the giant.

The huge brute didn't bother running after them, instead it shoved its huge hands into the ground. It then pulled up a huge chunk of concrete from the sidewalk it was standing on. The giant swung his arms back once, creating the momentum to fling the mass at the motorcycle.

The giant managed to heave the large piece of concrete before Claire managed to bring the brute down with a shot to its head. Claire watched the slab travel over their heads and into the path of the motorcycle. She was too late in warning Alice.

The slab landed in front of them. Because of the speed they were travelling in, Alice couldn't maneuver away fast enough. The front wheel hit it with so much force that the rear wheel was launched up almost two feet off the ground, effectively launching Claire into the air while Alice was flipped over onto her back. The laws of motion are such a bitch.

The motorcycle had flipped over like Alice, and the latter avoided the bike's descent. But Claire wasn't as lucky. Alice rushed over to Claire who was thrown a foot from the bike. The zombies that were lagging behind were now suddenly too close for comfort. Claire hit her head on a protruding rock and was unconscious and bleeding profusely from her wound that despite Alice's efforts to wake her up, Claire would not open her eyes. But Alice would not leave her.

Alice draped one of Claire's arms over her shoulders and then grabbed the shotgun. She then dragged Claire into a tall building and searched for a place to hide, like a bank vault.

Alice's reminiscing was cut off when Claire finally stirred. "Claire?"

"Shit. I feel like my head is going to split open." Claire lay on her back while clutching her head. She blinked a few times to focus her vision before looking at Alice. "Who're you?"

"What?" Alice was shocked.

Laughter echoed against the walls of the room. "Just kidding, Alice. You should have seen your face." Claire kept laughing as she propped herself up on her elbows. "You have a cruel sense of humor, Claire." Alice stood up from her place opposite Claire and produced a flask. After sitting up, Claire took it with an apologetic smile, "Sorry."

After taking a sip from the water can, Claire looked around to take in her surroundings. "Where are we?" Alice had gone back to her previous place before answering, "We're in a bank vault."

"And what are we doing in a bank vault? Last time I checked money stopped making the world go round ever since people started eating each other." Claire raised a delicate eyebrow at Alice while wearing that trademark grin of hers. At the sight of that, Alice heaved a heavy sigh and smiled back. "Actually, we were here to make a deposit, but then you shot the manager so…" Alice pointed towards the zombie Claire previously shot. Claire had to laugh, "Oh, too bad then."

Claire recounted to Alice her odd dream, wondering what parts of it were true. Alice in turn told Claire what happened beginning from Claire's last definite memory, which was their time at the apartment building.

"You lost a lot of time." Alice checked Claire's wounds to see if any of them needed patching up again. "Yeah, that must have been a pretty hard rock I hit." Claire managed to smile at her statement despite being shaken up by the fact that she can't remember half the day.

"You woke up back when we were in the first floor. Do you remember that?" By the look Claire was giving Alice, she probably didn't. "I just found this vault then and was coming to get you. I noticed that you had your eyes open." Alice helped Claire up. "But by the time I reached you, you were out cold again." Claire sighed, "No. I can't remember. Let's just go and use my messed up brain for something else."

Claire watched Alice check flashlights, guns, ammo and other supplies, and then replacing them in black backpacks. "So what's the plan?" Claire caught the backpack Alice tossed her, swung it onto her back and followed Alice out of the vault. "Just stay alive."

Once outside, they scouted their surroundings. The floor below them was swarming with infected. The only thing that kept those monsters from coming up to the second floor was the burning hundred dollar bills that blocked escalators, stairs and most of the doors. But the flames have started to die out, and so Alice and Claire decided to go up. When they reached the fourth floor, they were greeted by a body shop for automobiles. "You don't suppose we'll find another motorcycle around here?" Claire had to ask.

Alice shrugged and then led the way up to the roof. She was hoping to find a helicopter for medical emergencies since there was a clinic in the mall, but she was disappointed.

It wasn't long until they felt that familiar tremor.

Alice and Claire dropped their cargo and immediately rushed to the edges of the roof to see where the brute was. To their horror it was actually climbing up by the walls. This one wasn't as slow as the previous ones and its arms' reach was twice as long as a normal human's. The pair began firing at it but it was unfazed. The giant reached the top in no time. It shoved Claire back and moved to do the same to Alice but missed. Alice had quickly laid face down on the floor and avoided the brute's fists.

Claire was thrown back towards the bags they were carrying. She managed to pull out a rifle and then continuously shot the giant. She only succeeded in angering the beast. It started pounding away and roaring at Claire, making it forget about Alice. Because of the giant's thrashing, Alice noticed that the concrete beneath it was cracking and it was only a matter of time before it breaks.

Claire stopped firing to reload. The beast took that opportunity to stomp towards her but stopped when something hit its head. Alice had chucked a piece of cement at the brute. Because of that, it headed for Alice instead. Alice was standing on the huge brute's original spot. When the giant reached Alice it raised its arms with its fingers intertwined and then swung them down towards Alice. Alice foresaw this and jumped away before she was hit. The behemoth hit the already weak flooring and it shattered. The hulk turned around to reach for something to keep from falling but it failed. Soon, it was on its way down five floors.

Alice lay face down near the wrecked part of the building where the brute fell. Relieved, she lifted her head to smile at Claire. Claire smiled back, but the smile faded instantly by what she saw. The brute that they thought they were rid off had managed to hold on to a few metal bars below the roof and pulled itself up. Alice looked behind to see bloodshot and angry eyes staring right at her. The giant reached out and was able to grab Alice's leg. The metal bars that saved the giant did not hold for long and it fell once again, pulling Alice with it.

Alice slid along the floor reaching out and trying to hold on to anything. The giant had pulled her all the way to the edge. At the edge, there was a large piece of the floor that was detached from the rest of the roof and its metal reinforcement was bent downward, but the whole of it was still intact. Alice grabbed a hold of the top edge and that stopped her descent. Unfortunately, the giant that grabbed a hold of her squeezed her leg and she felt like it got broken. The weight of the giant was too much that the metal bars were strained and so were Alice's arms that her right arm was dislocated. She had to drop her dislocated arm to her side and so her left hand almost lost its grip. It was a miracle that it wasn't long until the giant's hand slipped from Alice's leather boot and it finally dropped to its death.

Claire rushed to the edge of the roof and found Alice hanging on for dear life. Claire reached out her arm for Alice but the metal bars of the concrete Alice was holding on to was getting weaker and it shook. Alice's hand slipped and she slid off the concrete. But Claire was quick, and so she positioned herself where Alice was previously, and grabbed a hold of Alice's hand. Claire started mouthing off suggestions on what they should do but Alice just sighed. She looked down to the lower floors which were too far for her to jump to with a dislocated arm and a broken leg. She knew what she had to do.

"Claire."

Claire was getting frantic. "What, Alice? You got an idea?" The concrete shook again. It was slipping downwards.

"Claire, you have to let me go."

Claire looked incredulously at Alice. "Shut up, Alice. I will not let you go." Claire was using her right arm to hold on to the roof and she bent it, trying to lift Alice up a bit. "Stop being stupid." Claire looked away.

"Claire, stop."

Claire looked back at Alice with tears in her eyes. "No, Alice, you stop. All that talk about staying alive and now you want to die."

"I don't want to die, Claire. But if it'll save you, I'm willing to make that sacrifice." Alice's visage mirrored Claire's. "Let me go."

Alice had started loosening her hold on Claire's hand. "Alice, please don't do this. You can use the T-virus can't you?" But Alice shook her head, "No. I'm sorry. I can't let Umbrella find me."

Claire shook her head as she tried to get a better hold on Alice, to no avail.

"Thank you, Claire." Alice opened her palm and allowed her hand to slowly slip through Claire's.

The concrete wasn't giving them too much time, just enough to say what's needed. It shook once more jerking Claire's hand enough to let go.

"Goodbye."

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><p>So, yeah. R&amp;R?<p> 


	4. Not Alone

**Disclaimer:** No. XP

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone. I now give to you Chapter 4. This fic turned out to be longer than I expected. This chapter was supposed to be the last one. Oh well.

BTW, I made slight changes to Chapter 3, if you guys are up for re-reading it. They're just minor details that you don't really need to know to understand this chapter. It's just that I usually re-read previous chapters when I write new ones and I end up adding a few things.

Once again, thank you to those who read this little project of mine. In a way, being added to Story Alerts can feel as good as reviews. I really appreciate that. :)

Okay then, read on. XD

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><p>CHAPTER 4: Not Alone<p>

"Goodbye."

That 60's band, Bread, once sang that goodbye didn't mean forever. But the way that seven-letter word rolled off of Alice's tongue suggested otherwise. Alice's final statement before she disappeared from Claire's line of sight seemed to weigh heavy in the air.

Claire panted heavily as she remained still, staring at the empty space Alice left. She still had her arm outstretched, seemingly stupefied by what happened.

"Alice?" Claire whispered. Despite the pleading in Claire's voice, the only thing that answered her was the soft howl of desert wind and the soft thud of a falling body hitting a hard surface.

The concrete Claire was holding on to shook again, reminding her that she should move or else she would fall, just like Alice did. Pulling herself together, Claire took a deep breath and heaved herself up back on the roof.

Claire found herself lying on her back and in a desperate effort not to cry anymore but she failed miserably. Her ears were ringing and she could barely hear anything besides her own broken sobs. She remained there, now in a fetal position, trying to calm down and come to terms with the fact that Alice was gone.

It was a good two minutes before Claire decided to move; realizing that staying there on the roof doing nothing would be a waste of the life Alice tried to protect. Claire gathered the weapons that were scattered during the fight against the giant. She thought about going down to the third floor where there was a little guns shop where Alice mentioned she got their arsenal. A few seconds later, Claire heard something she wasn't expecting.

Somewhere in the lower floors of the Plaza Mayor was an explosion, like from a grenade. Claire's eyes lit up as one name came to mind. "Alice."

Claire figured the explosion must be from the third floor, near the guns shop, thinking there must be grenades there. She ran down the steps as fast as she could, hoping to be reunited with her friend.

Down in the second floor, a young girl ran away from the crater the grenade she threw made. Despite the grenade having the desired effect of blowing up zombies to bits, it, unfortunately, drew the attention of even more of those dreaded cannibals. She was almost within reach of the zombies when someone called out her name.

"K-Mart, get down!" LJ yelled over the din of flesh-hungry moans. K-Mart dropped to the ground, face down, with her arms over her head while LJ rained bullets on the flesh-eaters. The infected were deterred from their assault and LJ took the chance to pull K-Mart to her feet and they both ran for the stairs.

"Damnit girl, didn't we tell you to stay in the truck?" LJ pushed K-Mart up the steps to the third floor. "I didn't want to stay in the truck." LJ pulled on K-Mart's arm and forced her to look at him. "Well, sometimes you gotta do what you don't want to do. Keeps you from getting eaten." LJ said that while punctuating almost every word with a point of his gun. "Yo lucky I grabbed Carlos' rifle or else we'd both be in deep shit." K-Mart got an apologetic look on her face as she put her hand on LJ's shoulders. "I'm sorry, okay. I got carried away. And thanks for saving me." LJ shrugged K-Mart off with a huff, shooing her with his gun. "Yeah, you better be. Now get yo ass moving. I saw a weapons shop in the third floor on my way down. I need ammo."

It turns out that around half a day after the convoy found a good place to stop over, Carlos decided to go after Alice and Claire ("They're taking too long. Something's wrong, I've got to find them."), taking LJ with him ("Fine. But I'm coming with you, man. You go alone, you're dead."). Carlos drove in the direction Claire did and half-way along the trip, LJ noticed K-Mart hiding behind a tarp in Carlos' truck. She was able to convince the two ("Taking me back to the camp now would be waste of time, and you know it.") to let her tag along. It wasn't long before they heard five almost consecutive explosions, and so they decided to head in that direction and found a medium-sized town. They passed by the rubble of a structure and figured it was the result of the multiple explosions they heard. They parked behind a few houses, away from a tall building that looked to be a mall which was surrounded by a substantial number of flesh-eating monsters. Carlos told K-Mart to stay in the truck, while he and LJ followed this huge brute running towards the mall. K-Mart watched as the said brute slammed itself into the zombies blocking its path. But instead of continuing into the building, it reached up and launched itself off the ground. It looked to have latched onto metal frame near the second floor. The giant climbed up and every move it made shattered more and more of the glass wall of the Plaza Mayor. K-Mart then decided to run after the two guys while carrying a small bag from Carlos' truck.

K-Mart's actions led to her and LJ on the third floor of the Plaza Mayor running to a guns shop. The minute K-Mart stepped into the shop; she stared at a familiar face. "Claire!"

A wide smile graced Claire's face as she took K-Mart in her arms. "What are you guys doing here?" She looked back and forth between K-Mart and LJ, waiting for an answer. "Looking for you, what else. You got guns?" LJ pointed to Claire's pack while rummaging around for a magazine fit for the rifle he had. "Yeah. It's just the two of you?" Claire tossed her pack to LJ after pulling out a gun. "No, Carlos is with us. Where is he anyway?" K-Mart glanced at LJ, watching him reload his rifle. "I left him up on the fourth floor when I heard the boom." LJ cocked his gun. "Thought it might be you," LJ said while gesturing towards Claire. "Turns out it was K-Mart here."

Claire sighed. "Heard that too when I was on the roof, so I rushed down here. I thought it was Alice."

LJ was walking out the shop, followed by K-Mart, when he responded. "Alice? She's up a floor above us, with Carlos. Dude's crazy, you know. To pull a stunt like that, he must really be into her. I mean, I ain't ever gonna do nothing like that shit." Claire was surprised and relieved at what she heard. "Are you saying Alice is alive?"

"Well, yeah." LJ shrugged. "Oh my god, LJ, thank you. I could just kiss you right now." Claire hugged LJ, and was almost on the brink of tears. "Nothing's holding you back, girl." LJ joked.

"Ew" was all K-Mart could say about that scene.

LJ spared a moment to glare at K-Mart. Claire smirked at the two, grabbed her bag and led the way out the shop. The blood-curdling moans of the cannibals were slowly getting louder. They figured the second floor was already overrun, and it was only a matter of time until those things made it to the third floor. Claire, LJ, and K-Mart hurried to the stairs and up. They made it to the fourth floor only to find it empty.

"Where are they?" Claire began to worry. "I don't know. They were just here." LJ walked around the floor looking for clues. "Carlos got a nasty cut on his leg when he came in through there. I told him to stay put." LJ motioned to the gaping hole in the glass outer wall that was caused by the huge brute when it fell from the roof. "How did he come in through there?" K-Mart asked after she found a small pool of blood near the gap. "He made stupid ass, crazy stunt, that's how."

Earlier, when Carlos and LJ followed that huge brute to the mall, they found out that the first floor was full of zombies. The infected were a bit pre-occupied by something burning so the two guys were ignored. They figured somebody was alive in the building and they were hoping it was Alice and Claire. "Now how we gonna get in?" LJ whispered, as he and Carlos hid behind a postal office. Carlos looked to the sides of the mall and noticed a small structure at the right. "Through there."

The ell turned out to be a clinic. The place reeked of heavy disinfectant, which was probably why the zombies steered clear of it. Carlos and LJ managed to get in unnoticed. The clinic had its own elevator that went straight to the roof but it wasn't working anymore so the two decided to take the narrow staircase beside it. The stairs ended on the second floor. Carlos crossed the floor to the left side with LJ trailing behind him. There they found elevators and another set of stairs. Along the way, LJ noticed a huge foot dangling in the window. "Was that the huge thing we followed here?" Carlos glanced at what LJ was looking at. "Probably. There's a reason why it's going up. Let's follow it." Carlos made for the stairs but LJ objected and pressed the up button for the elevator. "Can't we take the elevator?" Carlos rolled his eyes and they got into a debate about the pros and cons of taking the elevator, not knowing that there was a life-and-death situation about to occur on the roof.

The building shook, cutting off the rather silly argument on the second floor. Powdered concrete began raining down on LJ and Carlos, making the latter leave the former and ran up the stairs. When Carlos reached the fifth floor, he heard a loud roar and darted in its direction. What he found was the hulk hanging by its huge left arm. It was trying to get into the fifth floor, but said floor was breaking under the weight. It was probably already weak from when the ogre climbed up. LJ finally caught up to Carlos. "Holy shit. That thing's huge." The giant noticed Carlos and LJ. Its red eyes seemed to flare up and then it made an attempt to swing itself into the floor. But it only succeeded in losing its grip on whatever it was holding on to and it plummeted down, destroying a huge portion of every floor it hit.

Carlos rushed to the edge, followed by LJ. They followed the ogre's descent. When the thing reached the ground, Carlos looked up. There he saw a pair of very familiar boots. "Alice." LJ looked up as well. "What the hell?"

The pair was transfixed on the spot until the owner of those boots, who they believed to be Alice, seemed to have slipped and almost fell. Luckily, someone or something prevented that from happening.

"We've gotta get up there!" LJ ran to the roof access door. But instead of following suite, Carlos yanked on cables and started tying it around his midsection. "We won't make it. Besides, she's too low to still be on the roof. She's probably just hanging on to something." Carlos tested the durability of the cables, and pulled them out from their place in the floor and the walls. "What are you doing?" LJ walked slowly back to Carlos, who was by now taking a deep breath. "Taking a leap of faith." Carlos smiled at LJ and took the stance of a runner in the direction of the boots.

LJ's eyes darted back and forth between the boots and Carlos. "No, no, no. Hell no. You ain't gonna try to catch her." LJ's eyes widened as he noticed that he was beginning to see more of the boots, meaning their owner was slipping. "I suggest you keep your eyes on the wires." When LJ glanced at the cables, Carlos started running. LJ's jaw dropped and his mind went blank except for one word.

"Fuck."

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><p>For some reason, I've been itching to use a swear word as an ending for a chapter and this seemed like a good opportunity. Haha.<p>

So there, review? :D


	5. I Got You

**Author's Note: **So sorry this took so long. A lot of things got in the way of me finishing this. Anyway, I won't keep you guys anymore. Read on and enjoy (I hope).

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><p>CHAPTER 5: I Got You<p>

'Fuck.'

Carlos mentally cursed himself. He was going to attempt to catch Ms. Boots (for lack of a better name, in case it wasn't Alice) mid-air; and using the tension from the wire tied to his waist, swing them into the floor below.

Two steps from the edge, Carlos launched himself off the fifth floor. He had his arms outstretched, ready to catch his damsel, and just in time too. Ms. Boots slid down right in front of him. For a split second, the two had looked in each other's faces: one, with an expression of surprise, and the other, of relief.

Carlos slammed into the girl (which he can now say is Alice), knocking the wind out of her and she lost consciousness. Carlos soon felt a strong jerk on the cable tied to his midsection, stopping his forward motion. Holding on tightly to Alice, they started their swing downwards. As soon as they swung in the direction of the next floor down, Carlos took out a hunting knife and poised to cut the cable he was tethered to. Before they lost the momentum, Carlos cut the wires and he, and Alice, was thrown into the fourth floor.

As soon as LJ heard a soft thud, he let go of the other end of the cable Carlos tied to himself. LJ had wound it around a nearby column, hoping it would be strong enough to help him bear the weight of Carlos and the girl. LJ then ran to the fourth floor.

LJ rushed to Carlos and found the girl snug in the latter's arms. "Well, I'll be damned. It is Alice." LJ looked both Alice and Carlos over and then noticed the huge cut on Carlos' left leg. "Dude, you're bleeding." LJ pulled out a handkerchief and tied it around Carlos' thigh to cut off the blood to the wound. "How is she?" LJ stepped behind Carlos, hooked his arms underneath the latter's, and dragged him away from the edge of the floor.

Carlos grimaced when LJ propped him up against a pillar. "She got knocked out when I slammed into her. I think her arm's dislocated and her leg's broken. Other than that, she's fine." Carlos let out a relieved sigh as he brushed away Alice's hair from her face. "She's ok."

"Lucky for her, you're insane." Carlos laughed at LJ's remark.

Not long after, Carlos and LJ heard an explosion from somewhere in the lower floors. "Maybe that's Claire." Carlos mused, nodding at LJ. LJ took the rifle that Carlos had on him and ran to the source of the explosion. "I'll go look. You stay put."

When LJ ran to the source of the explosion, he found K-Mart. And after K-Mart, he found Claire. But now as the three of them stood on the fourth floor where they hoped to find Carlos and Alice, what they found was a whole lot of nothing.

While LJ told Claire about their rescue mission up to Carlos' stunt, K-Mart was eyeing a thin trail of blood drops that led to…

"The elevator," K-Mart stood in front of it. She garnered the attention of Claire and LJ, who promptly stood beside her. "I think they rode the elevator." K-Mart pointed to a dribble of blood just outside of the elevator doors.

"But, why… If they used the elevator and lower floors are filled with infected, there would be nowhere to go." Claire paced while shaking her head. "Well, they could use the hatch. You know, climb up through and hide on top of the elevator car." LJ proposed. "But you said they were injured. And even if they managed to do that, what's the point?"

"Maybe they had no choice?" K-Mart suggested.

"I'd go with the 'had no choice' thing."

The evident fear in LJ's voice as he said that stopped Claire's pacing. Both girls turned to look at LJ who was staring intently at the elevator doors. There, they saw the reflection of a monstrous being. Its shoulders rose up and down in time with its breathing. The trio slowly turned around and faced the ogre.

Its torso was three times bigger the normal; its head was the size of a regular human's but its eyes were bloodshot. The mouth was lopsided to the right, the nose was flat, and it looked to have holes on the side of its head for ears. Its shoulders were huge, so were its arms and hands. But its lower body looked normal, though bent at the knees. It held the stance of an ape.

The giant continued panting heavily with drool dripping down its chin. It was eyeing the three, and seemed rather unsure of what to do.

"On the count of three, we run for the stairs." Claire whispered.

LJ and K-Mart both nodded slowly. The ogre noticed that, and slowly inched towards them. And when Claire moved to face in the direction of the stairs, the giant stopped and glared at her.

"Scratch that, run, now!" Claire yelled over the din of the monster's roar. LJ and K-Mart ran, followed closely by Claire. The giant rushed towards the three but its huge upper body propelled it forward and it slammed into the elevator doors. It got disoriented for a few seconds, giving Claire, K-Mart and LJ a head start.

When the three arrived at the stairs, they shut the door and backed away. They could hear the beast making its way to them. "Where to now?" K-Mart asked.

"We can probably get out through the clinic. It's how we got in." LJ checked his ammunition. "What about Alice and Carlos?" Claire took out a rifle from her pack, and then handed pistol to K-Mart. "Carlos knows that's the best way out. He'll probably head there, too." LJ looked skeptical while saying that, but it was the truth. So Claire nodded to the two and hurried down the stairs.

LJ was right, Carlos knew that the clinic would be the best and the safest way out of the Plaza Mayor. The trouble was getting there.

A few seconds after LJ left to check out the explosion, Alice started coming to. Then she sat up abruptly, pushing Carlos away. "What… How… You…" Carlos held on to her wrists and tried to calm her down. "Alice! It's okay. You're okay." Alice stopped struggling, to look Carlos in the eyes. "But I fell. I thought I was going to die." Carlos let go of Alice's wrists to cup her face. "Yes, you fell. But I caught you." Alice smiled and leaned in to Carlos for an embrace. "I got you, Alice. I got you."

"How are we gonna get out?" was Alice's first question after Carlos got her up to speed with what's happened. "Through the clinic." Carlos was up on his feet and checking his ammunition. "How're you feeling?" He looked over to Alice who was trying to lash a piece of wood to her broken leg. "Great." Carlos chuckled at the sarcasm. "C'mon, we'll take the stairs on the other end of this floor. It's closer to the clinic access." Alice tried to stand but her right arm gave out. "We should fix that." Carlos grabbed a hold of Alice's shoulder and arm. "This is going to hurt a lot." Carlos informed Alice, who shrugged the warning off. "My entire body hurts a lot. I doubt I'd even notice tha–t".

The last word that Alice said came out like a cross between a yelp and a groan. She glared at Carlos as soon as he stood back in front of her. "Hey, I told you so."

Before Alice could answer back, a reverberating groan echoed from the other end of the floor. "What was that?" Alice asked, as she once again attempted to stand up. "I don't know, but I don't think we have enough firepower to find out." Carlos draped Alice's left arm around his shoulders and they made their way to the staircase.

Before they got to the stairs' access door, their path was blocked by a huge chunk of concrete that flew in front of them. They both looked to the source of the block and saw the silhouette of something huge. They were partially hidden behind a column and were standing in front of the elevator. Alice pressed the down button. Carlos looked at Alice disapprovingly, and Alice responded by mouthing the words: You got a better idea?

It only took a few seconds for the elevator car to get to the fourth floor. A soft ding was heard followed by the opening of the doors. Alice and Carlos went in the car and as soon as Carlos pressed a button, the silhouette seemed to come alive and run in their direction. It slammed into the column and destroyed it. The action befuddled the thing and as the elevator doors closed, Alice had a good look at the monster's red eyes.

She wasn't sure but Alice thought she recognized those eyes. It looks awfully similar to the giant that fell off the roof.

Carlos noticed Alice had spaced out and nudged her gently. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Is it just me, or do those huge things don't die. I mean, we blew three of them up."

Carlos shrugged. "I don't know. I guess that's all the more reason to get to the clinic and get the hell out of here."

"There's something very wrong about this place."

Before Carlos could respond, the elevator had reached the second floor. The lift stopped and the doors opened. What greeted the passengers of the elevator rendered them speechless.

At the same time, Claire, followed by LJ and K-Mart, arrived at the second floor with a few injuries. They encountered a few of the infected in the third floor. Luckily, they were relatively easy to kill.

"Over there! That's the clinic access door." LJ pointed to a yellow door whose sign may have read clinic once but was now missing a few letters.

Claire reached the door first, went in and dashed down the stairs, hoping to find Alice and Carlos, but like before, the pair was nowhere in sight. "They're not here." Claire looked back to check on her companions. To her dismay, she found her group to be one person short. "Where's K-Mart?"

LJ looked around and now shared Claire's distress. "Shit. She was right behind me."

In a few seconds, they heard a terrified scream that came from another part of the second floor. Claire and LJ ran towards the source of the scream. They arrived at the other end of the floor, near the elevators. What they found was a monster they have never seen before. Hanging upside down a foot above it was K-Mart.

"Help me."

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><p>We're now done with the second to the last chapter of Going Down Slow. Yep. I'm fairly certain chapter 6 will be the last one. I don't feel like dragging them around any longer. I just hope they get out of this alive. *evil smirk*<p> 


	6. Safe

A/N: After days of having a bad case of writer's block, I now give you the end of Going Down Slow. *jumps up and down* I am so happy. I've finally finished my first multi-chapter fic. It's such a wonderful feeling. Haha.

Thank you for reading this fic. I appreciate all of you who reviewed and added this to your story alert. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. ;)

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><p>Chapter 6: Safe<p>

"Help me."

K-Mart was tearfully trying not to panic because of her current situation. She could feel her leg going numb. Her head was starting to hurt because of her unnatural position. She looked at Claire and LJ and hoped that they were trying to figure out a way to save her.

But saving K-Mart would have to wait until Claire and LJ had gotten over their initial shock after seeing the massive thing that held K-Mart hostage.

It was a huge orange and pinkish blob that sat between the elevators and the glass wall of the building. It looked be at least five feet wide and about three feet high. It seemed to be made of human flesh and had twenty tentacles or so that protruded around its body. Tufts of hair grew in random places on the skin. But the most disturbing part of the monster was its three heads. Each had a nose and a mouth with sharp teeth, but no eyes. The heads were irregularly oval and had holes for ears. It was emitting a disturbing groan that sent shivers up Claire's spine. Surrounding it were human body parts that seemed to have been ripped apart and judging by the blood that was smeared all over the monster, the missing body parts were lunch. The blob didn't seem to have a reaction to Claire and LJ's arrival yet.

"Man, that's disgusting." LJ started backing away from the thing and aimed to shoot. "Wait, don't shoot it." Claire whispered and then forcibly lowered LJ's gun. "If you shoot it now, it might drop K-Mart. A fall from that height will break her neck."

Before Claire or LJ could move from their position, the blob suddenly flailed its tentacles about. The thing slammed its limbs on either side of the two, missing them by only a few centimeters. The floor tiles shattered on impact and the fog that resulted made it hard to see. At the same time, K-Mart was screaming as she was swayed back and forth by the monster.

Claire got knocked down by one of the blob's tentacles. LJ ran to her and offered his hand to pull her up. But as LJ leaned down, Claire's eyes widened as a rather huge limb hovered above LJ's head ready to slam down on him. Claire grabbed LJ by the shoulders and pulled him against her. She then rolled them both to the left as the limb hit the ground. LJ ended up being on top and couldn't help but smirk at the woman beneath him. "Damn girl." Claire rolled her eyes and returned the smile. "Shut up."

LJ pushed himself to his feet, helping Claire up in the process. The blob tried to hit them again, but this time LJ noticed this and told Claire to run. The duo ran along the length of the glass wall to the opposite side of where they originally were when they first encountered the blob. The monster tried going after them by slamming a tentacle towards the wall. Glass shards flew everywhere and cut Claire and LJ on almost every inch of exposed skin. When the mass of flesh missed its prize, it tried again and again, only to hit the wall a few centimeters behind its prey. Then it suddenly stopped and used a limb to hit a few spaces in front of the pair. This stopped Claire and LJ in their tracks.

The thing was about to squash Claire and LJ with around five of its limbs when they heard continuous gunshots. They were suddenly old news and the monster paid more attention to the person who was shooting at it which was Alice.

When the elevator opened, it revealed this massive blob that blocked Alice's and Carlos' path. They kept quiet for a while since it didn't seem to pay them any attention and kept the elevator door open. When they heard someone quietly ask for help, the two poked their heads out to see who was there and caught a glimpse of Claire and LJ. They also noticed someone hanging upside down. "That must be K-Mart." There was venom on Carlos' voice as he spoke. "We have to do something."

Alice nodded in agreement and looked closely at the monster. It had three heads that didn't have eyes so maybe it used sound to see. Unfortunately, Alice didn't have much time to think on that because the thing began striking Claire and LJ. Carlos slowly slipped out if the elevator as the monster was attacking and then faced Alice. He handed her a pistol. "Here. On my signal, shoot."

Carlos stayed low and shuffled to where K-Mart was being held. Carlos raised his hand and waved to get Alice's attention. When he saw that Alice was looking at him, he gave her a thumbs-up. Alice then poised to shoot and started firing. The monster's pained screams echoed along the halls. At the same time, Carlos had produced his hunting knife and cut the tentacle that held K-Mart. Carlos caught K-Mart as she fell and carried her towards a column that was hidden from the monster's view. He put K-Mart down and saw that she was unconscious. He tried waking her up but she was out cold. Carlos noticed the small pack tied around K-Mart's waist and checked its contents. Finding the contents to his liking, Carlos smirked. "Thank you, K-Mart." Carlos gave K-Mart a kiss on the forehead and then ran back to the monster. "LJ! Claire!"

LJ and Claire were frozen on the spot while Alice showered the blob with bullets. The two heard Carlos calling their names and looked in his direction. LJ grabbed Claire's arm to run but the latter refused. "You go!" Claire took out a Dessert Eagle from her pack and checked its ammo. LJ was hesitant but nodded anyway and dashed towards Carlos. Claire readied her gun and started shooting at the monster's heads. The blob seemed to have become confused. It began slamming its tentacles in whatever direction possible.

When LJ reached Carlos, the latter pointed to somewhere away from the fight. "K-Mart's just around that corner. Keep your heads down." LJ handed Carlos his rifle. "What are you gonna do?" Carlos fixed a piece of string that was hanging out of a small pack that LJ recognized as the one K-Mart was carrying. LJ had a peek of what was inside and saw a handful of grenades whose pins were tied together. Carlos smiled and said, "I'll think of something." LJ rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you do that." And the two parted ways.

The blob's flailing got more frantic by the second. A few more bullets later and it managed to hit Claire. Claire's pistol got knocked out of her hands and then she was pushed back. Alice stopped firing when Claire got hit and limped towards the latter. Unfortunately, the monster had managed to grab a hold of Claire's leg before Alice could reach her. The thing now has a new hostage hanging upside down.

Carlos watched that scene unfold as he rushed back towards the skirmish. His leg wound started bleeding again from all the running he's been doing so it took him a while to get back to the fight. He watched as Claire got swung back and forth by the blob as Alice started shooting it again. A few second later, Alice was also out of bullets. She then launched herself onto the monster, grabbing hold of its head in the middle. Alice pulled hard on the head and managed to rip it off.

The other two heads emitted a blood-curdling scream, before the blob threw Claire in whatever direction it wanted, which was towards a concrete column. Luckily, the same column was near where Carlos was. And so he used his body to keep Claire from hitting her head on the pillar. Claire heard a crack as her body hit Carlos' and as soon as they both dropped to the ground, Claire twisted around to assess the damage.

"I'm fine." Carlos tried sitting up, but his midsection was painful. He may have a broken rib. "You're not fine. C'mon, I'll help you up." Instead of holding on to Claire, Carlos gave her his rifle and the pack of grenades. "No, you help Alice." Claire wanted to protest but was cut off when the blob let out another hair-raising wail and she looked back to see Alice holding on to another one of the monster's heads. She glared at Carlos as she stood. "Fine. Just stay alive." Carlos raised his hand in salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Claire ran back towards Alice called out to her. She tossed the rifle to Alice who in turn caught it and proceeded to use it to turn the head she was holding on to into mush. With two of its heads gone, the monster became more violent than ever. It extended its limbs as far as they could go. It almost grabbed Carlos who was about a meter and a half away. It tried yanking Alice off of its body, but Alice was stubbornly latched on. Claire hopped around the thing in order to avoid its tentacles. She then dropped to the floor and rolled to the right in order to avoid getting hit. When she was close enough, she took out the grenades from the pack and held on tightly to the string its pins were attached to. Claire tossed the grenades to Alice. Alice then shoved them into the hole she made when she ripped off one of the heads.

Claire and Alice leaped a foot away from the blob and kept close to the ground with their hands above their heads. Claire then yanked the string hard enough to pull the grenade pins out. The said pins clattered on the floor and after a few seconds, the blob exploded.

Pieces of flesh flew in random directions. There was blood everywhere. It was a gruesome sight. But as Claire stood and ran towards Alice to help her up, as LJ came to tend to Carlos with K-Mart trailing behind him, they were glad the horrid display was the only thing left to suffer.

The five of them made their way to the clinic access door in silence. They supported each other as they walked out of the clinic and made it to Carlos' truck. Carlos really had a broken rib and so he let LJ drive and he sat shotgun. Claire, K-Mart and Alice sat at the back. Ever the comedian, LJ was the first to break the silence. "I don't know 'bout any o' you, but I didn't see any cats in there. So I'm starting to wonder what got all your tongues."

Carlos was first to react. He tried to laugh but it got caught in his throat when he felt another searing pain in his midsection because of his broken rib. "Damn you, LJ. You always know the right things to say." That got LJ and the girls sniggering. "You got that right."

Claire let a soft smile grace her features as she wrapped her arm around K-Mart and hugged her close. "Thank you, guys. Although, I don't appreciate you bringing K-Mart along, thanks for coming after us." Alice smiled at Claire and then glanced at LJ and Carlos. "Yeah, thanks."

Carlos twirled his hand in the air in a mock bow. "You are very welcome, ladies." LJ tipped his hat to Alice. "Everyone will be happy to know you guys are safe." Alice placed her left hand on Carlos' shoulder and her right hand in Claire's. "Yes…"

"We're safe."


	7. Epilogue

A/N: Hey, hey, hey. I said chapter 6 was the end of Going Down Slow and it still is. This chapter is just an epilogue-slash-preview to a new fic that will be a sequel. It doesn't have a title yet nor a definite story line. The progress of the sequel will depend on you guys. If you think the sequel will be worth pursuing, let me know. If it isn't, then I'll run along and find something else to write about. ;)

So there, read on. And don't forget to review. :D

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><p>Epilogue<p>

She woke up to the sound of an ECG. Its beep-beep-beeping was so soothing that she almost fell back into deep sleep. But before she closed her eyes, she noticed someone sitting across from her, through glass and in front of a desk with a computer monitor. The man looked up and their eyes met. The man was startled when he looked at her. She was curious as to why he was surprised but when she tried to speak, no sound came out. It hurt to even lower her jaw. The man had left his station and in a few seconds he was back with an older man. The younger man went back to his seat while the older deliberately approached her and stood by her side.

"You are such a strong woman. It's become a rather frustrating trait, my dear."

She tried to speak again, but it was no use.

"This is the second time you've woken up while under medication."

She was confused. What did he mean? Why was she under medication? Her heart rate spiked and she tried to sit up, only to discover that she was strapped to the bed.

"Calm down, my dear. Struggling won't help you."

She tried to scream, to call for help, but all she heard was her labored breathing. She felt tears run down her cheeks as she feared her fate.

"It's time for you to go back to sleep."

She suddenly felt very sleepy. She wanted to fight the feeling, but her body was too weak. Soon, she succumbed to the darkness.

After a while she was woken up by the call of her name. "Claire?"

Claire woke up with a start, pushing up against the passenger door. She looked at the person who called her and saw a worried looking Alice. "Are you okay? I think you were having a bad dream." Claire looked around. They were still in the truck. LJ was still driving and Carlos was now asleep. K-Mart was, too, and had her head on Alice's lap. "Claire?" Claire looked back at Alice. "It wasn't bad, it was horrible." Claire tried to mask her worry by laughing, but Alice knew better. "Want to talk about it?" Claire heaved a heavy sigh and wiped away the tears that she shed while she was sleeping. "No. I'm okay." Claire forced a smile.

"I'm okay."

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><p>Review please! XD<p> 


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